Mosaic
by Yotsubadancesintherain5
Summary: A gem that is free cannot shake off what has once been told and true.


When Emerald decided to join the Crystal Gems it was not out of a love for Earth or a desire to be more than what she was designed to be. It was entirely for her, a chance that the fear that built up for what seemed like millennia would finally be quelled.

It wasn't easy integrating into the rebellion, every stitch of what Homeworld thought of as right being rewoven. She wasn't quite ready to retreat into her gem and come out differently. But she was reassured to take her time.

Emerald had taken to breaking off from the other gems, to study the Earth's grass. How could something that was both described as sharp and comforting to lie on possibly exist? She did write about it, and the primitive sheet of paper was stored somewhere in her clothes.

It was on a warm Earth day, and Emerald was studying a blade of grass when another gem sat beside her and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hello," said the gem. "Are you new?"

"No, I think I was created some… five hundred, six hundred years ago?"

"Oh, no, I meant when you joined the Crystal Gems?" the gem asked. She smiled encouragingly.

"Not long ago," said Emerald. "A few Earth months ago. Or years, I'm not entirely sure."

"Yeah, it took some getting used to for me," said the gem. "Well, we're here now, so. My name is Aquamarine."

"Emerald, FACET-"

Aquamarine laughed. "Don't worry about those here, we don't need them anymore. We call each other by nicknames. I mean, I like my name as it, and everyone knows who I am when they describe my gem."

She tugged at the folds of her clothes and revealed a gem that curved from the top to form a pointy end. "See? Oh, have you ever met humans, Emerald? They're absolutely adorable. They called my gem a 'heart'."

"Ah." Emerald's hand unconsciously covered her collar. "I haven't. What are they like?"

"Soft skin, they have a lot of what they call bones. They have peculiar ceremonies, but I think what's most interesting about them is that they don't come out of the ground. They come out of other humans!"

Emerald tried to think of gems crawling out of other gems for infinity. "I guess humans are pretty tough if they can come out of other humans fully grown."

"No, when they come out of other humans, they're _small_. And then they grow up, in a blink of an eye!" Aquamarine said. "I'm sure that when you meet humans they'll make a cute observation about your gem."

Emerald gripped the fabric of her clothing. The old fear clawed up, but she tried to force it back down. In a wild defiance, she said, "I don't… think they'll like it very much."

"Well, humans were scared of us before but now they know we're gonna help them. Maybe they'll be put-off by the diamond symbol on your clothes, but I'll tell them you're on our side."

"I mean…" Emerald forced out the words. "My gem is defective."

She pulled down her collar, revealing her gem. It was broken up into three pieces where her collarbone would be, one slightly bigger than the rest, and she waited for the scream of disgust.

"Ah, it's all right," said Aquamarine. "I think it looks nice. If it makes you feel better, Homeworld wasn't very happy with my gem's shape either."

Emerald fixed her collar. "So, you remember feeling scared of being… Harvested if your work wasn't perfect?"

"Of course," Aquamarine said. "Though I bet they didn't expect me to use their own decorative fan against them - Here, I'll show you."

Her gem glowed and she reached in to pull out a bladed fan. She handed it to Emerald to look over, and when the fan was handed back it disappeared into light.

"Have you ever tried it?" asked Aquamarine.

Emerald shook her head and pulled down her collar again. She concentrated, her mind straining with it, but there was a shock of pain and she fell back, rendered speechless.

"Are you okay?"

Aquamarine pulled her back up and brushed stray grass off her back. Emerald blinked away tears and said shakily, "It didn't work."

"First time," Aquamarine reassured her.

She noticed a piece of paper on the grass and picked it up.

"What is this?"

"Ah, when I was on Homeworld, I was a writer," said Emerald. "We wrote about the Diamonds."  
It consisted mostly of 'The Diamonds are (adjective), the Diamonds are (more elaborate adjective)'. After a few hundred years Emerald started to feel stagnant and the endless opportunities to write on Earth were overwhelming.

"Is it okay if I read it?"

"Yeah. It's all right."

The next few minutes were spent of Emerald quietly poking at the grass, absolutely not leaning over to see Aquamarine's reactions as she read. When she finished reading the paper, Emerald sat up a little straighter.

"So, what did you think of it?"

"I liked it," said Aquamarine. "But I didn't really understand comparing the grass to clouds and I got a little confused near the end…"

"Oh." It must've been sloppier than she initially thought and it wouldn't do at all. It had to be absolutely perfect.

"Hey, Emerald," Aquamarine said. "Listen, is this the first thing you've written since off Homeworld? Don't you see? This has its flaws, but it's yours. It's completely _yours._"

Emerald took the paper back and read it over again. Saying that the blades of grass were like improvised knives was dramatic but perhaps it would have made a Diamond sneer in disgust. She smiled.

"Thanks, Aquamarine."

"No problem."

Emerald scooted closer and took out an old writing tool. "So, let's make the metaphor about grass and clouds better…"

**A/N: Originally posted on AO3 on January 30 2017**

**Thanks to my friend who let me use her gemsona, Aquamarine, in this story.**


End file.
